BBC plummets in popularity as readers switch off from 'woke lectures'
BBC ratings have plummeted because audiences are sick of 'woke lectures' from the broadcaster, one former politician has suggested
PA
BBC ratings have plummeted because audiences are sick of "woke lectures" from the broadcaster, one former politician has suggested.
It comes as one BBC presenter blames the falling ratings on “news avoiders” who no longer want to face the world’s problems.
Former Brexit Party MEP Rupert Lowe shared his thoughts on social media after Nick Robinson claimed the decline in numbers is not down to listener dissatisfaction, but insiders suggest the Today programme has "lost its mojo".
"'News avoiders' now being blamed for BBC's plummeting popularity," Lowe wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Former Brexit Party MEP Rupert Lowe shared his thoughts on social media after Nick Robinson claimed the decline in numbers is not down to listener dissatisfaction, but insiders suggest the Today programme has 'lost its mojo'
"Nothing to do with people being sick of the woke lectures, of course!"
Over the past year, BBC Radio 4’s flagship news and current affairs show has lost more than a million listeners.
However, Robinson and Amol Rajan, his co-presenter say the reduction is down to a general decline rather than dissatisfaction with the programme in particular.
“People just want to avoid the news,” Robinson told Radio Times.
“Market research literally calls them ‘news avoiders’. We will all know people who think ‘I just can’t face the world any more’.”
Despite the drop in the Today programme’s figures, GB News Radio numbers rose over the same period.
Some BBC insiders have claimed that the Today programme’s issues are more in depth than a general plunge.
“Today has been cut to the bone as part of all the cost-cutting in News, and it no longer has the editorial independence it once had because so many things are centrally commissioned. That shows,” said one former Today employee told the Telegraph.
BBCPA“And the programme has lost its mojo. When was the last time you were gripped by an interview with a member of the Cabinet?
“Mind you, that might be due to the calibre of the Cabinet ministers.”
A new Today Podcast has since launched, in the hope of bringing in a wider audience.